Final Report November 7th 2010 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Plan for the Shuswap Lakes, BC Prepared for the: Fraser Basin Council Kamloops, BC Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Plan for the Shuswap Lakes, BC Prepared for the: Fraser Basin Council Kamloops, BC Prepared by: Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd. 30 Gostick Place North Vancouver, BC V7M 3G3 Final Report November 7th 2010 Project 35138 DISCLAIMER This document has been prepared by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd. in accordance with generally accepted engineering and geoscience practices and is intended for the exclusive use and benefit of the client for whom it was prepared and for the particular purpose for which it was prepared. No other warranty, expressed or implied, is made. Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd. and its officers, directors, employees, and agents assume no responsibility for the reliance upon this document or any of its contents by any party other than the client for whom the document was prepared. The contents of this document are not to be relied upon or used, in whole or in part, by or for the benefit of others without specific written authorization from Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd. and our client. Report prepared by: Ken I. Ashley, Ph.D., Senior Scientist Ken J. Hall, Ph.D. Associate Report reviewed by: Barry Chilibeck, P.Eng. Principal Engineer NHC. 2010. Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Plan for the Shuswap Lakes, BC. Prepared for the Fraser Basin Council. November 7thth, 2010. © copyright 2010 Shuswap Lake Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Plan i CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to acknowledge to Mike Crowe (DFO, Kamloops), Ian McGregor (Ministry of Environment, Kamloops), Phil Hallinan (Fraser Basin Council, Kamloops) and Ray Nadeau (Shuswap Water Action Team Society) for supporting the development of the Shuswap Lakes water quality monitoring plan. Special thanks to Gabriele Matscha for comments on the draft report, and Bob Grace and Dennis Einarson (MOE, Kamloops) for permitting access to their draft report entitled “A Preliminary Assessment of Water Quality and Limnology of Shuswap Lake” and to Carol Danyluck (MOE, Kamloops) for the grey water data they collected on Shuswap Lake in 2008. Thanks to Don Holmes and Dr. Rick Nordin, MOE (retired) for their previous contributions to monitoring the water quality of Shuswap Lake. Shuswap Lake Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Plan ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Shuswap Lake, along with Little Shuswap, Adams and Mara lakes are the centerpiece of the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Shuswap basin. They collectively support a thriving tourism industry and an expanding residential and commercial property market. Shuswap Lake is the centre of Canada’s houseboat industry, the nursery lake for the world famous Adams River sockeye salmon and the source of drinking water for several local communities and hundreds of lakeshore residents. The current pace and scale of largely unregulated near-shore residential, commercial and industrial development, and upland agricultural activities in the Shuswap watershed, is threatening the water quality and recreational attractiveness of the Shuswap lakes. A widespread noxious algae bloom occurred in Shuswap Lake in June 2008, and Mara Lake in May 2010, demonstrating that despite their large size and rapid flushing rate, these lakes are susceptible to water quality degradation due to increased anthropogenic loading of limiting nutrients from within the Shuswap watershed. Numerous limnological monitoring programs and water quality studies have been carried out on Shuswap Lake and Mara Lake since the early 1970s, largely due to agency and public concerns about the effects of various point and non-point discharges (i.e., sewage, industrial, agricultural and urban runoff) on water quality and fish habitat. These studies concluded that the overall water quality in Shuswap Lake and Mara Lake was generally good, with the exception of some specific areas. For example, water quality in Tappen Bay was declining (mesotrophic to eutrophic) due to development pressures. Salmon Arm water quality ranged from oligotrophic to meso-eutrophic. Seymour and Anstey Arm had the highest water quality, and were rated as ultra- oligotrophic to oligotrophic. The Main Arm of Shuswap Lake was oligotrophic, but was also showing signs of declining water quality in some embayments along the north and south shores of the main arm (e.g., Blind Bay). Some minor nutrient enrichment was detected in the Sicamous area, and the south end of Mara Lake. Shuswap Lake and Mara lakes are now exhibiting initial signs of declining water quality. Although this only occurs in isolated areas, and the deep lake stations in Shuswap Lake are still relatively pristine, subtle shifts in water quality are appearing, some areas are already eutrophic, and the first appearance of a lake-wide algae bloom in Shuswap Lake in June 2008, and Mara Lake in May 2010, provided a harbinger of possible future water quality conditions. The main threat is the old nemesis of eutrophication i.e., the excessive addition of nitrogen and phosphorus from a variety of human activities: sewage treatment plant discharges, agricultural runoff, improperly installed and operated septic systems and poorly designed urban runoff. Shuswap Lake Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Plan iii The degree to which emerging contaminants (e.g., personal care products, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals) are present in Shuswap Lake, Mara Lake and major tributaries is unknown, due to limited monitoring budgets and the traditional scope of regional water quality monitoring programs. Based on surveys from other large lakes in Western Europe, the US and Canada, it is likely that some emerging contaminants are already present in Shuswap Lake, Mara Lakes and some tributaries (i.e., Shuswap River), although the concentrations are likely quite low, and the ecological implications uncertain at this time. Illegally introduced species of fish are already present in Adams Lake (and were recently removed from several small lakes surrounding Shuswap Lake), and may have migrated into Shuswap Lake, placing this important sockeye salmon aquatic ecosystem at risk. A five year comprehensive monitoring program is outlined to monitor the known and emerging threats to drinking water quality and aquatic ecosystem health in Shuswap and Mara lakes, and the surrounding tributaries. The program builds on the current Ministry of Environment monitoring program, and must address the immediate known concerns from eutrophication, grey water discharges and urban and agricultural runoff, as well as assess the significance of emerging threats to sources of drinking water and aquatic ecosystem health. This new program is estimated to range in cost from $148,574 in Year 1 to $118,200 in Years 4 and 5, assuming MOE provides a sampling crew, seaworthy vessel and monitoring equipment, and prepares the annual State-of-the-lakes report. The best defense for preventing further water quality degradation in the Shuswap area lakes is a detailed assessment and analysis of the nutrients and contaminants being discharged into these lakes, followed by concrete action plans to reduce or eliminate nutrients and contaminant loading as required. The entire process rests on the foundation of a scientifically defensible basin wide monitoring program that can identify sources and track trends in water quality and aquatic ecosystem health through time. The threats to Shuswap area lakes in the 21st Century are much greater than the early 1970s when ‘climate change’, ‘emerging contaminants’, ‘houseboat capitals’, ‘E. coli O157:H7’ and ‘agricultural intensification’ were unknown terms. The monitoring program must be integrated with water quality monitoring programs that are being conducted by Regional Districts or municipalities within the Shuswap basin. This will reduce monitoring costs, eliminate redundant sampling, and provide a diversity of funding sources to ensure the long term viability of the monitoring program. The data collected from the monitoring program should be made widely available to the public once the raw data has been checked for errors and omissions. A web-based data base is the logical way to disseminate the data to the public at the least cost. A “State-of the Lakes” water quality report should be issued annually, once all of the current years monitoring data has been reviewed, interpreted and disseminated in a standard reporting format. The reports should be posted on a Shuswap lakes web-site to minimized printing costs. These activities will build credibility with the public and generate long term regional support for the monitoring program. Shuswap Lake Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Plan iv It is crucial to involve the public and Shuswap and Mara lake NGO’s in the development and implementation of the Shuswap lakes monitoring program. The public and area NGO’s attended various SLIIP presentations throughout 2007 and 2008 and provided considerable input to the development of the SLIPP process and final report. Protecting and improving the water quality of Shuswap and Mara lakes was consistently ranked among the highest priority concerns by Shuswap area residents. It is unlikely that the water quality and aquatic ecosystem health of the Shuswap lakes can be adequately protected over the long term unless an integrated comprehensive monitoring program exists, followed by concrete action plans to reduce nutrient and contaminant loadings